Park the car and walk east of the rotary for this sampling of shops on Chatham’s Main Street => Main Street Pottery (508-945-0128), 645C Main Street. See Yellow Umbrella Books for books. Mark August Designs (508-945-4545), 490 Main Street. Functional and fun, creative and artsy decorative items for your house. Jewelry, too. Chatham Candy Manor (508-945-0825), 484 Main Street. Hand-dipped...

In recent years, the quality of Main Street stores in Falmouth has risen, sidewalks have been repaved, benches added, and flower beds and boxes are overflowing. You can pass a couple of hours here easily. To get you started => Maxwell & Co. (508-540-8752), 200 Main Street. Absolutely fine men’s and women’s clothing. Twigs (508-540-0767), 178 Main Street. Practical, decorative, and...

Here are a few shops you’ll find on or near Main Street in Hyannis, to whet your appetite => Artist Shanties (508-862-4678), Bismore Park, on the waterfront. Taking a page out of the playbook of Nantucket’s waterfront area, these little shacks are occupied by 15 juried artists, including one revolving one. Mediums vary from watercolors and pastels to tapestries and...

The sweet Lemon Tree Village in Brewster has 15 shops and eateries worth poking around, if you’re a real shopper. Of note: Lemon Tree Pottery (508-896-3065), for hand crafted wares; Brewster Birdhouse (508-896-1522), for fine feathered friend finds; and the Village Toy Store (508-896-8185), for kids of all ages.

Mashpee Commons, a former strip-shopping area, has been reverted back into an award-winning, “traditional” New England town center. The town planners are forward-looking here: Bent on preventing sprawl-inducing mistakes from perpetuating themselves, they created a more sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing, downtown district that has become a magnet for tourists and locals alike. Now an easy mixture of boutiques, restaurants, office...

This is just a tiny sampling on shops on Commercial Street in Provincetown => Womencrafts, #376, a Provincetown institution. Now Voyager Bookstore, #357, serving the community’s gay and lesbian book needs. Hersheldon’s Leather, #317, all the right jackets (or briefcases or shoes). Cabot’s Candy, #276, making its own saltwater taffy since 1969. Provincetown Bookshop, #246, with a good selection of...